Safety

Video Safety Tip: Backing a Vehicle

Backing a vehicle out of a parking space – particularly at a busy shopping center – is one of the riskiest driving maneuvers your fleet drivers make on a regular basis. Here are some safety tips, provided by AAA, you can pass along to drivers to help make the process easier.

Before entering the vehicle, check to make sure the path to the rear and sides is clear. Children and objects are often difficult to see from the driver’s seat.

Keep your foot firmly on the brake pedal while shifting to reverse.

Maintain control by backing the vehicle slowly and being prepared to stop quickly. Your vehicle is much harder to control and stop when backing.

Check traffic conditions in all directions – and check all blind areas carefully.

Look in the direction you are moving but never concentrate on any one thing to such a degree that you neglect your surroundings.

Since you cannot see objects close to the rear or sides when looking out the window, use front and rear windows and inside and outside mirrors when backing a vehicle. Also, check to the front to determine whether the front of the vehicle is tracking in the direction you want it to go.

When backing, the rear of the vehicle turns in the direction you turn the steering wheel. If you become confused or disoriented while backing, stop and begin again.

For a video tip from igottadrive.com, click on the photo or link below the headline.

Safety

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling about 1.1 million Ram 1500, 2500, and 3500 pickup trucks from six model years because the tailgate limiter tab may fracture and cause the tailgate to unlatch and open while driving, according to federal documents.

Ford Motor Co. is issuing a safety recall in a few of its trucks and SUVs for a potential lack of a seat restraint. Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with any of these conditions.

A new J.D. Power survey finds car buyer demand for semi-autonomous safety technology is threatened by overbearing alerts that are causing many to disable their systems, increasing the risk of a collision.

Approximately 398 people could lose their lives and another 45,300 could suffer serious injuries on roadways over the Labor Day weekend, according to the National Safety Council's estimate, which is the lowest it has issued for the three-day holiday period since 2015.

From 2014 through 2017, an average of more than 2,000 vehicles were stolen on the Fourth of July holiday each year, which ranks the holiday in the middle of the list of highest-risk holidays for vehicle thefts, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

While vehicle thefts in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, metropolitan statistical area (MSA) have dropped 28% since 2016, the city continues to have the highest per capita rate of vehicle theft in the nation, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau's 2018 Hot Spots report.